File-Based QC

Pulsar

Automated File-Based QC

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About

Pulsar is the fastest, most comprehensive, and versatile file-based Automated QC system in the market. It automates quality check and control at every stage of the content life-cycle. With support for the latest technologies, such as HDR, IMF and 4K, Pulsar allows you to remain ahead of the curve by tackling the quality issues early and efficiently. Additionally, it’s incredibly simple to use. With support for all Broadcast/OTT formats along with a wide range of checks, Pulsar is ready to be used in a wide range of workflows, including Broadcast, Production, Post Production, Media Services, Archiving, and Over-the-Top.

Fast and Scalable

Fastest QC system in the market with up to 6x faster than real-time analysis speed for HD content and near real-time analysis for JPEG-2000 4K content. Faster QC results into lesser licenses for a given content volume with a direct impact on investment in the QC system. It also improves the workflow throughout with quicker access to QC results. You can also easily setup a verification cluster with multiple QC verification units for higher system throughout.

HDR built-in

Perform QC of your Dolby-Vision, HDR-10, and HDR-10+ content. You can perform a variety of metadata validation checks along with detailed reporting of HDR parameters. You can also cross-check the video properties between the HDR metadata and the video essence. The HDR toolset in Pulsar is the most comprehensive and significantly aids in setting up and managing your HDR workflows efficiently.

IMF integrated

Pulsar has the most comprehensive support for IMF packages. Some of the key capabilities include:

  • Support for Application #2E and SMPTE TSP 2121
  • Package validation
  • Supplementary package support
  • CPL and OPL based validation
  • Sidecar composition map validation
  • Photon integration

VOD and Adaptive Bitrate

With built-in support for adaptive bitrate formats as well as fragmented MP4, Pulsar allows users to automate the QC of Video-on-demand assets. Key capabilities include:

  • Formats. MPEG-DASH, Apple HLS and Microsoft Smooth Streaming
  • Encrypted packages support
  • Auto-assignment of different QC templates to different encoding profiles
  • Adaptive bitrate package specific checks to help validate the integrity of ABR packages

Compliance

Ensures that your content complies with country regulations and customer specifications.

  • Photosensitive Epilepsy using Harding PSE engine & get a Harding certificate for every job.
  • Compliance with Audio loudness against CALM act, EBU R128, and OP-59 recommendations.
  • Compliance with legal luminance & chrominance range or RGB Gamuts.
  • Compliance against presence of Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages in the content.
  • Compliance against Netflix, iTunes, DPP, ARD-ZDF, and many other organizations using our ready-to-use factory templates.

Track Layout

Many content applications, such as advertisement content delivery, require certain content segments to be present at the head and tail of the content. These content segments may include color bars, black frames, freeze frames, slates, audio mute, tones, and silence. You can set up your custom track layouts and validate the overall structure. This can be done in conjunction with the template checks.

Features

An overview of the Pulsar features:

Features

  • Perpetual license or Pay-Per-Use
  • Can be deployed on premise or in the cloud
  • Different editions are available
  • Rapid checks
  • Verification checks

Verification checks

Workflow integration

Pulsar is based on SOA architecture and exposes XML/SOAP APIs for integration. Pulsar has been integrated with multiple leading suppliers in the industry. SDK is available for free with access to sample codes, WSDL and documentation, using which you can easily integrate Pulsar with your workflow management system.

Pulsar Editions


ProfessionalStandardBasicPay-Per-Use
No of simultaneous files4111
Maximum cores32844
Verification Unit clusterYesNoNoNo
Watch FoldersYesYesYesNo
Web Service APIYesYesNoNo
Media Player *****
Controller Plus **NoNoNo
Rapid **NoNoNo
DD/DD+ ****No
Dolby-E ****No
Nielsen watermark ***NoNo
Loudness correction *****
VC-1, WMAYesYesNoNo
JPEG-2000YesYesNoYes
Fast JPEG-2000**NoYes
HEVCYesYesNoYes
Adaptive Bitrate FormatsYesYesNoNo
Harding PSE *****
IMF/DCPYesYesNoYes
Image sequenceYesYesNoYes
HDRYesYesNoYes
Track LayoutYesYesNoYes
Audio Language Identification***No

* Optional feature

  • Verification Unit Cluster: Ability to cluster multiple Verification Units together to process a larger number of files simultaneously.
  • Controller Plus: Ability to provide automatic fail-over redundancy for the Pulsar Controller.
  • Rapid: A module that allows to quickly check and sort media files based on metadata header information.
  • Media Player: Media player linked with Pulsar reports for visual review.
  • Audio Language Identification: Auto-identification of audio language from audio media data.
Specifications

The Pulsar system specifications:

Hardware Requirements

Entry level system

  • Intel Xeon E-2186G, 3.8 GHz, 6 cores CPU or similar
  • 16 GByte RAM
  • 512 GByte SSD
  • Nvidia Quadro P400
  • 1 Gbps Ethernet
  • USB 3 Connector
  • Windows 10 Pro
  • Google Chrome 

Best value system

  • Intel Xeon 6242R, 3.1 GHz, 20 cores CPU or similar
  • 32 GByte RAM
  • 512 GByte SSD
  • Nvidia Quadro P400
  • 1 Gbps Ethernet
  • USB 3 Connector
  • Windows 10 Pro
  • Google Chrome

Supported Formats

Container

  • MXF, GXF, LXF
  • MOV, MP4, 3GPP
  • MPEG-2 TS, MPEG-2 PS
  • FLV, WMV, AVI, Matrox AVI
  • WAV, BWF, AIFF
  • DPX, JP2, TIFF
  • Microsoft Smooth Streaming
  • Apple HLS
  • MPEG-DASH
  • IMF
  • DCP
         (encrypted and unencrypted)
  • MXF AS-02, AS-11
  • Elementary
  • Video Codecs

    • H.265
    • H.264
    • AVC-Intra 50/100
    • SONY XAVC
    • MPEG-2 (D10, XDCAM, HDCAM, IMX-30/50)
    • VC-1
    • DV
    • DVCPro25
    • DVCPro50
    • DVCPro100/HD)
    • Avid DNxHD (VC-3), DNxHR
    • Apple ProRes 422 (HQ, SD, LT, Proxy), ProRes 4444
    • Canopus HQ/HQX
    • JPEG-2000
    • Uncompressed (RGB, YUV)

    Audio Codecs

    • LPCM, AES3
    • AC3 (DD), SMPTE 302M, E-AC3 (DD+),
    • MPEG-1/2, AAC, HE-AAC
    • WMA (Standard & Pro)
    • Dolby-E
    • Audio streams

    HDR

    • HDR-10
    • HDR-10+
    • Dolby Vision
    • Container: MXF, GXF, LXF, MOV, MP4, 3GPP, MPEG-2 TS, MPEG-2 PS, FLV, WMV, AVI, Matrox AVI, WAV, BWF, AIFF, DPX, JP2, TIFF, Smooth Streaming, HLS, MPEG-DASH, IMF, DCP (encrypted and unencrypted), AS-02, AS-11, Elementary
    • Video: H.265, H.264 (incl. AVC-Intra 50/100 and SONY XAVC), MPEG-2 (incl. D10, XDCAM, HDCAM, IMX-30/50), VC-1, DV (incl. DVCPro25, DVCPro50, DVCPro100/HD), Avid DNxHD (VC-3), Avid DNxHR, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ, SD, LT, Proxy), ProRes 4444, Canopus HQ/HQX, JPEG-2000, Uncompressed (RGB, YUV)
    • Audio: LPCM, AES3, AC3 (DD), SMPTE 302M, E-AC3 (DD+), MPEG-1/2, AAC, HE-AAC, WMA (Standard & Pro), Dolby-E, Audio stems
    • HDR: HDR-10, HDR-10+, Dolby Vision

    Verification Checks

    General

    • General: Compliance, Factory templates – Netflix, DPP, Amazon Prime, ARD-ZDF, Loudness (R128, CALM, OP-59, ARIB), iTunes & CableLabs
    • IMF/DCP: CPL based analysis, Package validation, CPL cross checks, CPL checks, PKL cross checks, OPL checks, Assetmap check, IMSC checks, Sidecar checks, Netflix Photon validation
    • ABR: Playlist cross checks. Segment cross checks, Profile cross checks, Encrypted Packages

    Container

    Conformance, Format, File Size, Media Info metadata dump, File name validation, MD5, SHA1 Hash, No of streams, Incorrect extension, Selective track analysis

    MXF: AS-11 descriptive metadata, Version, Operational pattern, Timecode presence/track count/mode/start value/source, Index table presence/location/completeness/correctness, Origin parameters, KLV alignment grid/fill elements, Partitions validity/Status/Completeness/Instance count/Index table presence/Essence presence/Max length, Essence wrapping/external check/referencing/partition strategy, Audio track numbers/element size/channel count/configurations, Descriptive metadata presence/scheme, Run-in sequence, Random index pack, Segmentation track, File package count, Index edit rate, Index duration, Audio/Video sample rate, Audio/Video stream type, Audio/Video edit rate, Video line map, Stored width, Stored height, Display width, Display height, Aspect ratio, Component depth, Horizontal sub-sampling, Vertical sub-sampling, System item presence, Block Align, Channel status mode, Fixed channel status data, Stored F2 offset, Display F2 offset, Sampled X/Y offset, Display X/Y offset, Identical GOP indicator, Edit unit byte count, Slice count, Dark metadata, Timecode frame drop, Audio locked/unlocked status, Audio ref level, Sampling rate, Quantization bits, Average bytes per second, Index start position, Single index location, Single essence location, Forward index direction, Image start/end offset, Color siting, Padding bits, Black ref level, White ref level, Color range, Constant B picture flag, Single sequence, Low delay

    Transport Streams: SCTE35, Program count, PCR Jitter, Packet Length, PID Usage, PIDs, PID Bitrate, Packet Intervals, PAT checks, PMT checks, Stream checks, PES checks, Language Metadata Verification

    QuickTime: Checks and correction for PASP, FIEL, GAMA, CLAP, COLR. Channel Configuration, Track properties, Movie properties, Language Metadata Verification, Check disabled tracks, Check multiple codec entries, Check Timecode properties

    Video Essence

    • Video Parameters: Codec, Video Format, Color space, Chroma Format, Color Matrix, Color Primaries, Transfer Characteristics, Scan Mode, Duration, Frame Rate, Resolution, Display/Pixel Aspect Ratio, GOP Length, GOP Type, Field Order, Frame Sizes, Buffer Size, Bitrate (CBR/VBR), Profile/Level, Entropy Coding, Reference Pictures, MBAFF, Timecode Discontinuity, Timecode frame drop, 2020 Color Space, Progression Order, Wavelet Transform
    • Video Quality: Black Frames, Blockiness, Brightness, Cadence, Chroma Hits, Chroma Line, Clipping, Colored Frames, Color Bars, Color Gamut, Combing, Credit Roll, Camera Dead Pixels, Dead Pixels, Digital Hits, Field Dominance, Flash Frames, Freeze Frames, Luma/Chroma levels, Cadence, Half/Full lines, Bar Artefacts, Letter/Pillar Box, Framing Issue, Photosensitive Epilepsy (Harding), Low Video Level, Low Black Level, FBI Warning Card, URL detection
    • HDR Parameters: HDR Formats, Reporting of HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision metadata

    Audio Essence

    Audio Codec, Sampling Frequency, Quantization Bits, Channels, Bitrate (CBR/VBR), Drops, Silence, Mute, Test Tones, Loudness (R128, CALM, AGCOM, ARIB, Speech Gated), Loudness Range, Dialnorm, Sample Peak (DBFS, PPM), True Peak, Dual Mono, Clipping, EAS tone, Phase Mismatch, Nielsen Watermarks, Language ID, Mosquito Tone, Quasi Peak

    HDR

    • Parameters: HDR Formats, Reporting of HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision metadata
    • Static Metadata: Verify (display color primaries, mastering display luminance, content light level)
    • Dynamic Metadata: Compliance, Validate HDR10+ metadata (MaxSCL, Average Max RGB, Distribution values, Tone mapping information, Targeted system display maximum luminance), Validate Dolby Vision metadata (Metadata version, shot must not contain <0,0,0> in level 1 metadata, Detect duplicate dynamic metadata, Crosscheck canvas aspect ratio, Crosscheck Video track information, Crosscheck (Calculated/metadata) Image aspect ratio

    Cross-checks

    • Video-Container: Width, Height, Frame rate, Aspect ratio, Bitrate, Profile/Level, Scan mode, Field order, Chroma format, GOP type, GOP length, B-pictures, Low delay, Duration, Component depth
    • Audio-Container: Sampling frequency, Bit depth, Channels, Bitrate, Duration
    • Audio-Video: Duration in meta-data, Actual duration
    • Correction: Loudness correction for PCM and MPEG -1 L2 audio, QuickTime meta-data
    • Meta data: Closed Captions (608/708) presence/conformance/format/location, Line 21 VBI Caption Decode, AFD, Bar, V-Chip, Teletext

    Rapid Check

    • File Rules Incorrect extension, File Size, Invalid file characters
    • Video Codec, Video Format, Chroma Format, Colour Matrix, Scan Mode, Duration, Frame Rate, Resolution, Display Aspect Ratio, Pixel Aspect Ratio, Profile/Level, Bit Depth, Buffer Size, Entropy Coding, Reference Pictures, MBAFF
    • Audio Codec, Sampling Frequency, Quantization Bits, Channels, Profile
    • Container Format, No. of Video/Audio streams, Track Duration, PASP, GAMA, CLAP, FIEL, COLR, Channel Configuration
    Documentation

    All Pulsar related documentation:

    Brochures

    White Papers

    • Pulsar Adaptive Streaming Whitepaper (download)
    • Pulsar for Broadcasters Whitepaper (download)
    HowTo Videos

    The Pulsar related HowTo videos:

    Venera Portfolio
    Venera Technologies Demo: Pulsar for Quality Control | Hybrid IBC 2022
    The Developer

    Venera

    Venera specializes in providing cutting edge solutions in the field of digital media. The company offers a wide range of solutions, starting from test and measurement solutions for the broadcast market, to enterprise solutions for corporate training and distance education. Since its inception in 2003, the company has been delivering quality, innovative solutions and creating long-lasting relationships with its customers. Today, more than a hundred organizations worldwide trust Venera's solutions and technologies for different applications - from testing to communications.

    Based in USA and India.

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    The Team

    Person

    Vikas Singhal

    Person

    Fereidoon Khosravi

    Person

    Sanjeev Saini

    Demo Request
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